Samsung Smart TV SDK 5.0 Overview

Published 2015-08-21 | (Compatible with SDK 5.0 and 2014 models)

Overview of Samsung Smart TV SDK 5.0 including descriptions of the development environment, existing features, and new features such as Native Client, Samsung Smart View SDK, and Smart Home. Also explains differences between Emulators and Smart TV hardware.

The Samsung Smart TV SDK 5.0 supports the Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. The Eclipse-based App Editor IDE provides developers with many of the tools they need to create Smart TV applications. Some of the features include:

Context-sensitive text editors for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

A Visual Editor for creating GUIs

Debugger

TV Application Packaging

Pre-Test Tool

Automatic Test Tool

Tutorial Explorer

The SDK also provides TV Emulators for all platforms. The TV Emulator can help developers test their application in their development environment before testing on a real TV.

The Native Client feature of the Smart TV platform provides the infrastructure to run native C/C++ code as part of a web application. Performance is generally higher than pure JavaScript applications, and existing C/C++ apps can be ported to the TV. The Smart TV IDE supports the creation of Native Client apps, and the Emulator is capable of executing them.

The Smart View SDK allows developers to create applications that span multiple platforms including Smart TV, smartphone, and tablet. The Smart View SDK is provided as an easy-to-use JavaScript API. For other platforms, developers can choose between Android (Java), iOS, or other web-based applications. By combining the Smart View API with modern web standards such as WebGL, Web Sockets, and HTML5 Canvas, there is no end to the types of applications that can be created: social, games, fitness, music, and more.

Figure 3: The Smart View SDK can be used to develop applications that span multiple devices.

The Web UI Framework is a new high-performance JavaScript framework for the Smart TV. Developers can write their applications in JavaScript and utilize improved performance to create a variety of TV apps including game, video, and entertainment apps.

Browser IDE is a powerful and flexible online integrated development environment for Smart TV applications on browser. There are four main functions, including project manager, code editors, terminal, and running application in Smart TV emulator. Firstly, for project manager, basic information of project, such as public URL, is showed and description of project is available to edit. Secondly, there are three kinds of editors, HTML editor, JavaScript editor, CSS editor. They all provide highlighting syntax, automatic completion and some other powerful features. Thirdly, there is a terminal for entering more complex commands. Additionally there’s a Smart TV emulator for developers to run application on the browser.

With Browser IDE, you can develop applications anywhere and work more efficiently.

Samsung AllShare enables content sharing across devices. Pictures, movies, and music can be shared between computers, TVs, mobile devices, and more. The AllShare API gives Smart TV applications the power to interact with AllShare-enabled devices. For more information about AllShare, please refer to AllShare Tutorial.

The Convergence API is designed to enable communication between mobile and TV devices. An example of a convergence application is using a smartphone as a remote control for a SmartTV application. For more information about the Convergence API, please refer to Creating a Convergence Application.

The Emulators are provided so that developers can conveniently test their applications in their workstation environment. However, the Emulators do not exactly simulate the real TV, and developers should always perform final testing on a real TV device.

Some differences between the Emulators and the real TV device are:

Performance: RAM, CPU, and network status are just some of the factors that influence an application’s performance. These variables are different between the PC and TV, and as a result performance should be carefully observed on the real TV. In general, the TV will have less memory than most developer workstations.

Interface Viewing Distance: Even though applications maintain the same aspect ratio in the Emulator and the TV, viewers in the TV environment are further away from the screen. The usability of applications should be tested on a real TV.

Remote Control: On a real TV, the application cannot override the default behavior of some of the remote control buttons. Additionally, the response time of button pushes may vary.